On average, the cost of a basic IVF cycle in the U.S ranges from $12,000 — $15,000 yet three out of four times it fails

20 million fails. This is one stat not discussed at the latest American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) Scientific Congress and Expo. It’s also not posted on fertility clinic member websites nor shared on their social media feeds but it should be.

Last week thousands of physicians, nurses, scientists and lab technicians gathered in Salt Lake City joined by legions of pharmaceutical representatives, ‘fertility’ entrepreneurs and service providers in full on ‘sell mode.’

It’s been nearly 40 years since in vitro fertilization (IVF) became available. There has been explosive growth in the size and scope of clinics and profit taking but no commensurate improvement in IVF outcomes.

Here are five other facts that aren’t widely known but should be:

Fact #1: ‘Fertility’ is now a huge market. That’s right: a market. The global In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) market size was valued at $9.6 billion in 2014. A more recent report by Grand View Research, Inc. projects the global ...

Genomics England’s plans to move into paid-for genome sequencing of healthy people has done more than raise eyebrows in the scientific world. Last week a parade of the genomics great and good – who had clearly not been informed of...

Last year’s heritable human gene editing scandal continues to reverberate. He Jiankui remains under investigation in China, where authorities have confirmed his work but the extent of his punishment remains unclear, possibly because of some ambiguity in the applicable regulations. He has definitely been fired by his university.

In the US, both Rice University and Stanford are formally investigating faculty members whose involvement with the work may have been more extensive than first thought. Michael Deem of Rice was revealed...

A Chinese researcher recently disrupted the CCR5 gene, which builds a protein that acts as an entryway that HIV uses to gain entry to T-cells, allegedly creating the world’s first genetically engineered baby. Chinese officials moved swiftly to condemn the...